Orelsan returns to Montreal after 8 years, launches Francos festival

After eight years away, Orelsan is coming home to Montreal—and the French rap star is bringing serious artillery.

The Marseillais MC plays Centre Bell on June 14 as the headline act launching the 37th Francos de Montréal festival. He's touring behind La fuite en avant, his fifth album released last fall, and a feature film Yoroï in which he stars. Both tell the same story: an artist burned out, fleeing to Japan with his wife to escape pressure and find perspective.

Orelsan, 43, counts among the heavyweight trio of modern French rap alongside Jul and Gims. His festival circuit in Europe is staggering—15 nights at Paris's Accor Arena alone, 300,000 tickets sold—so a Montreal stop is a gift.

"I love Montreal too much, and it's been too long," he told Le Devoir. He's bringing his live band (drummer, guitarist, keyboardist, beatmaker Skread) and the scénography of his festival shows, though without the arena cascadeurs—"the set is so massive we can barely fit it on stage."

The spectacle functions as a live version of his multimedia project: the concert sets stories from the film, with the album's songs soundtracking an artist confronting burnout, fatherhood doubts, and the armor of neurosis that protects but also imprisons. A manga version is on his radar too, though time is the limiting factor. "We make the album, the film, the concert all at once," he said. "The problem is never finding ideas. The problem is knowing which ones to keep."

A fan of Japanese culture, Orelsan is an artist in full creative sprint. Montrealers should expect a rare, high-intensity performance from one of French rap's most ambitious voices.